“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3 (NIV)
True confessions? I am a fitness enthusiast. I like working out and examining what I am eating and learning how to do both better. I enjoy learning about how God made the body and exploring how it responds. I am enthralled by the potential God built into the body and rejoice when I see people discover the gift that God has given us in the body.
But the truth is that I am enthralled by God more.
With anything we love and hold dearly, there is always the danger that our love for it will supersede our love for God. It’s a tension we must learn to navigate throughout our lives and about many different things. It’s not that God wants us to love only Him and nothing else. God made us to love, and He holds love above all other characteristics (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 13:13). He wants us to love; loving people and ideals and is part of our DNA. But one thing should always remain — that we love God more. Whether it’s our kids, our spouse, our jobs, our life-calling, or whatever, it’s good to love those things … even to love them deeply … but we must love God more.
So as I examine myself, my heart and my loves, I return to this truth: I love God more. And I pray and I ask that He helps me keep all things in service to my love for Him. That love for God is what fuels me and drives me and beckons me to everything else I love. That love for God is what all my other loves point to. That love for God and His glory remains my ultimate objective.
Yes, I am a fitness enthusiast. But my ultimate objective is not health and fitness. My ultimate objective is Christ-likeness. May I never forget. And may the pursuit of health always be within the greater context of loving and honoring and bringing glory to the One who made me.
ShemaFit 